Tuesday November 3rd!

Waterfront

My position has never changed - “More park, less parking.” The central waterfront is the crown jewel of Newburyport. We need to honor it that way.

Open Space

As ‘development is going to happen” it is vital that we do all we can to preserve our open space – especially that along the waterfront.

One of my most noteworthy achievements is the preservation of the 102 acre Common Pasture parcel on Hale Street as open space.

I have been, and will continue to be, an advocate for open space.

Development

After spending more than 40 hours investigating all the arguments “against,” I came to the conclusion that the arguments were not factual or well founded and voted in favor of the 40R Zoning Ordinance.

Fact - development and change is going to happen. Implement Smart Growth, transit oriented and sustainable approaches will make development “less painful” and will actually lead to a broader tax base and resulting less economic pressure.

I believe in balancing an owner”s property rights with the rights of the surrounding neighbors.

Site Plan Review (as is found in the 40R ordinance) is an essential tool that will allow the Planning Board to see that development fits with the look and character of our community. I would like to see applied more broadly.

On down-zoning from R3 to R2: My vote was in favor.

On zoning for Inclusionary Affordable Housing: My vote was in favor.

Parking

I am in favor of a parking garage on the Titcomb lot or elsewhere away from the center of town. A garage would be used for all day parking, either on a daily or monthly basis, by store and business owners and employees. The shopping public would then benefit from lost-cost hourly parking on city lots while on-street parking time limits are shortened to allow for faster turnover.

Many studies have been made on parking – there is a viable solution to getting cars off the waterfront.

I have been and will continue to work with the abutters to that the garage with have the least impact as possible on their lives and property values.

Historic Preservation

This is the underlying appeal and backbone of Newburyport.

We should continue to work towards broader historic preservation and I am an advocate and supporter of seeing more guidelines applied City wide.

Schools

A great school system is the strength of a community. Whether a school system is “good” or not sets the bar on property values. Communities with “good” systems are desirable places to live; therefore, property values are higher.

I am a firm supporter of competitive teacher salaries and properly paid administrators. As a reviewer of and approver of the budget, I kept a critical eye on all expenditures and advocate for fair and respectful teacher salaries.

Things are not the same as they were “when we were kids” and we cannot manage the system as if nothing has changed.

While we wait for the State to “fix” school funding, we must act locally to support our schools.

Council On Aging / Senior Community Center

My mother resided in Newburyport for the last ten years of her life and was a grateful recipient of the exquisite services offered by the Council on Aging, especially Roseann Robillard.

Always a budgetary supporter of the COA, I vocally advocated for and approved the spending for the Senior Community Center.

Ecstatic to see the doors are open and welcoming!

Taxes & Finances

To lower residential property taxes, we must first ease our non-discretionary demands made up of salaries, overtime, and health insurance, as well as our discretionary spending such as fax lines, take home cars and cell phones.

Recommendations made on non-discretionary spending:

Easing of overtime rules during snow removal efforts by offering time off during less demanding time in exchange for cost saving on pay. Will continue to bring forward innovative and constructive ideas.

Realignment of police and fire department work schedules in order to control overtime. (As member of 2004 – 2007 B&F Committee, called into question the $1 mil overtime line item and work to see it being reduced. Currently is in the $500,000 bracket.). We have more to do.

Creation of an HR Department now in place (recommendations made during 2004 – 2007 terms).

At the same time, we must attract high-end enterprises to our community. This requires two essential ingredients:

Distinguish Newburyport as a special place to do business, and

Rezone the business park to allow for a broader range of businesses.

My focus is to make Newburyport attractive to new businesses by establishing our city as an environmentally conscious and green community.

Youth Services

We have a hard working and effective Supervisor of Youth Services who achieves maximum results with limited recourses and staff.

With a degree in Recreation and Leisure Studies, I understand the need and would like to see Newburyport develop a comprehensive Recreation Department with youth, senior, and adult programs.

Waterfront West

As an elected official and an affected business owner, the conflict of interest laws allow me to have a conversation with you with my private citizen hat in place – give me a call!